GoldenWheels

I recently ordered some wholesale Universal DVDs for resale in my brick and mortar store from Canadian company inetvideo.

Turns out several of these DVDs were Canadian versions and had french text next to the English, which while unforeseen I figured I would leave up to the customer to decide if that bothered them or not. However I noticed a couple of the titles said on the security sticker "for sale in canada only". This made me really nervous, as while these are no longer frontline new dvds, they do have the damn sticker on them for a reason I assume. That sticker has made me worried about displaying these items in my store, even the Canadian versions WITHOUT the sticker.

Does anyone have any experience with this, or the rules and regulations regarding this? Apologies if this has been discussed already, I searched the the internet in general and this forum specifically without coming up with an answer, or even any information period. Right now I am erring on the side of caution and not selling any of them. But I am having a heck of a time finding nay info on this.

Any help is much appreciated.

flansered

I have bought several dvds over the years like that from stores like Ross and Kroger. If they do it without problems I don't see why you would have any.

GoldenWheels

Thanks for the first person backup--I thought I had seen this once myself at FYE.

Still not sure what to do but chances are I will simply sell these through and not reorder.

anomynous

Most of the time DVD's are licensed for sale in US & Canada, so you should be good to go

TurboRex

yeah its fine, nothing to worry about.. I grab my stuff from inetvideo all the time.

jjcool

Are dvds really restricted by regions as far as sales go? What about all the "imports" that I see in alot of stores?

orangerunner

I know some titles have different distributors in the US than in Canada. For instance, Fox video released The Wrestler in the US and Alliance exclusively released it in Canada.

With the internet & things being shipped around the world, I don't think it's really a big issue.

I do remember back in 1987 when IVE Home Video in the US released the uncut version of Angel Heart. MCA Canada released the theatrical cut in Canada as the uncut version was not permitted. I suppose this kind of thing could have legal issues if it was sold in Canada.

It must have been settled because the DVD sold here is the uncut version.

GoldenWheels

Yeah orange the distribution thing was what i was really worried about...I looked around and I saw that they restrict stuff sometimes to protect the other economy, who may be able to sell it for more.

I would hope that being remainder product now it would be an issue that whoever might not care about anymore. Anyway, thanks for the opinions guys.

danwiz

Amazon.com ships me DVDs regularly which say "for sale only in the USA". If it's okay for them to sell USA DVDs in Japan, then I would expect that nobody is going to jump on you for selling Canadian DVDs in the USA!

GoldenWheels

I certainly hope that is the case and that this is one of those deals where the rule is antiquated and no one bothers with it. I mean they are same region at least right!

I bet amazon gets away with a lot of stuff others don't however. The big boy usually do.

GoldenWheels

Honestly I guess I don't understand the Q. These do say "for use in Canada and the US only" on the back but it was the sticker that made me pause.

And who knows if they mean "use" to include selling or just viewing, though one would think (hope!) it would be all inclusive.

it's probably a stupid thing guys, and I appreciate all the opinions. They make me feel way less shaky. Still don't want to get a cease and desist though!

jjcool

But what constitutes distribution? My guess is it is a certain number of units. You selling a couple copies in your own store isnt going to be an issue, in my opinion.

GoldenWheels

True, interesting point. Unfortunately while it is only a handful of titles with the sticker, I do have a semi-significant amount of them. Over 100 each. I was hoping being bargain product "distribution" no longer even applies. This is remaindered product at this point.

Honestly at this point the sheer lack of info available on this both makes me feel nervous (maybe it's up to whoever produces the DVD and each is individualy determined, thus no standard anywhere to be found) or better (maybe there's no info because no one cares at all anymore).

Anyway I hope you are right and it isn't an issue. Certainly something I will be on the lookout for when I order in the future!

jjcool

If I had to guess, I would say the sticker saying only for canada, is simply there so that it doesnt get confused with the US version. The french lettering on the front should be enough of a clue.

Regulus

I bought the Animated Motion Picture The Man Called Flintstone from Canada because it was not available in the US at the time. (It now is). Since it was a Canadian DVD I was surprised to see the standard "FBI Warning" on it at when I played the DVD. I was expecting to see the Canadian Counterpart. (RCMP Warning)

GoldenWheels

Don't relax your guard just yet--remember they always get their man! LOL.